


Broken Clock

by roserelease



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Red Hood and the Outlaws
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 21:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/740177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roserelease/pseuds/roserelease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After witnessing their ally reject the return of their “most cherished memory,” Roy and Kori don’t want to leave Jason alone. Mild spoilers for issue #3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Clock

**Author's Note:**

> Major thanks goes to tumblr user pogonophilic-cat for the help with editing and with the title!

Any hope of potential peace and quiet in the privacy of their moderately-sized hotel room was ruined by one of its three occupants. Although the hotel door closed behind them, effectively shutting off the outside world for at least the night, Roy had spent most of the trip back from the All talking almost non-stop, and his loud, irritable voice carried far too well in their room for Jason's liking.

“—and are you really sure you don’t want to go back? I bet S’aru will give it back to you if you –”

“ _No_ , Roy,” Jason said for the hundredth time that night. Exhaustion pulled heavily at his eyelids and he was sure that he’d pulled a muscle in his shoulder from the fight earlier; it ached when he shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over the arm of a nearby armchair. The last thing he wanted to do was go all the way back for something as useless as a memory. He couldn’t miss - much less desire - something he couldn’t remember, now could he?

Roy paused in the middle of kicking off a boot near the doorway, staring at Jason with eyes wide with bewilderment, before opening his big mouth. “But you don’t know for sure what memory you lost. What if it was something you _didn’t_ want to lose?”

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. And I didn’t lose it, I _gave it up._ Big difference.”

“But—”

“Can we not do this tonight?” Kori warned from inside the bathroom, the shushing sound of water filling a tub competing with her exasperated voice. The door was partially closed, only a slight crack in the doorway allowing her voice to come through crystal clear. A grumble followed. “I don’t know how this stuff got _inside_ my clothes, but it did. I smell terrible.”

Roy shuffled up to the doorway. “Want some help there, Kori?”

“No, thank you. I’ll be fine. I just have a lot of tangles to look forward to.”

Shrugging, Roy resigned himself to relaxing against the wall, arms crossed loosely over his chest. He eyed Jason as he began rummaging through his backpack for a pair of clean clothes to retire for the night in.

“So as I was sayi—”

Jason practically ripped his backpack zipper across its silver teeth, the _zzzzpt!_ of it shutting Roy up instantly. Jason turned his head slowly and shot his ally a leveled stare.

“Roy.”

“Uh huh?”

“If you keep this up, you’re going to find yourself sleeping outside of this room. On the floor. And without a blanket.”

The grin that grew across Roy’s face was far too self-aware for Jason’s liking. “So like old times, then?”

There was a long pause before Jason shook his head. “Yes, Roy. Like old times.” He plopped down onto the too soft bed, making sure to keep his back to Mr. Chatty-pants, and his attention on the alarm clock on the nightstand. Only a few hours until sunrise. Just perfect. If it weren’t for the fact that he was already starting to get a bad case of eye strain, he almost wouldn’t have seen the point in going to bed at all.

But it was that or stay awake and listen to Roy try to chat him up all morning. Ah, decisions, decisions.

A few blessed seconds of silence passed until Jason heard Roy cross the short distance between the wall and the bed and sit down, the mattress dipping under his weight. The room they’d asked for housed two queen-sized beds, more than enough room for two to share a bed and one to claim the other for themselves. Jason wasn’t entirely sure he could handle sharing a bed with Roy that night, or anyone else for that matter, but in the end it didn’t matter so long as he got some actual sleep.

The mattress creaked as Roy shifted further down the bed and lay down beside him, uncomfortably close to the point where Jason swore he could feel Roy’s body heat burning into his back. “Jason?”

Eyes shut tight, already attempting to sleep. Jason didn’t reply.

“Okay, don’t talk. But just hear me out, okay?” Roy shifted again, presumably to lie on his side. “Look, I know the past is a hard thing to deal with. I don’t like remembering a lot of things either. But what you did back there, I’m not so sure that was a smart thing to do.”

Frowning, Jason’s eyes opened. “And why not?”

“Because it’s your experiences and memories that make you who you are. If you give them up, then what does that leave you?”

Rolling his eyes, Jason glanced over his shoulder just enough to make out the top of Roy’s red hair, tangled and flat against his head from those stupid trucker hats he always insisted on wearing. “It was just one memory,” Jason explained in a slow, deliberate voice, as though he were talking to a child. “It’s not like I cut open my head and said, ‘Here you go, it’s a clearance sale, everything must go.’”

Although, if such a thing were possible, Jason wasn’t all that sure he’d turn the opportunity down. Didn’t seem like such a bad idea some days. At the very least it would mean far less “emotional baggage” for him to carry around the world.

“I know, but seeing you so willing to just give up something as personal as a memory … I guess I just don’t like the thought of you just giving up parts of yourself, like they aren’t important enough to keep, or like _you’re_ not important enough to keep.” A deep sigh. Jason could feel Roy’s hot breath ghost over the nape of his neck, causing a cold shiver to race over his back. “Do you get what I’m trying to say?”

“Sure do. Are you done sharing for the night?”

Roy chuckled softly to himself. “Nope. Sorry buddy, but there’s no off button you can press to get me to permanently shut up. Sharing is caring, Jason. And _not_ sharing tends to lead to some pretty bad shit. Or so I’ve heard, anyway. I wouldn’t know.”

Despite himself, Jason chortled at Roy’s nonchalant tone of voice. Roy may be an idiot – a self-deprecating, hopeless, clingy idiot – but at least he was the well-intentioned sort. That almost made up for how often Roy’s mouth was open and in use.

“Neither would I,” Jason mumbled, mostly to himself as he gave into a small yawn.

It was then that the bathroom door opened and closed, temporarily jolting Jason and Roy out of their mostly one-sided conversation. There was a soft click of a light switch flicking off right when the room was enveloped in darkness, then the soft padding of bare feet on carpeted floor. Kori walked into view and climbed onto the bit of space on Jason’s other side, tossing her long mane of fiery red hair over her shoulder and off the bed as she made herself comfortable. She smelled of free hotel soap and shampoo as well as a faint, sweet scent that was distinctly her. It was a strange smell, but it was getting to the point of familiarity.

Kori’s half-lidded eyes were bright and glowing in the dark. “I think what Roy means to say is that he cares about you,” she spoke softly, repressing her own yawn, “and that he’s concerned about the implications of your actions.”

Jason frowned, avoiding Kori’s sleepy yet concentrated stare. _Great. Two against one._ “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need anyone worrying about me.”

Kori gave into her yawn, a hand gently cupping her mouth as her eyes momentarily squeezed shut. “Clearly, you do. But this whole memory thing is ultimately your decision. If there are things you want to forget, then I won’t stop you from forgetting. I’m sure you have your reasons.”

“Well, I still don’t like it,” Roy piped up from behind.

“No one’s asking you,” mumbled Jason.

Jason could just make out Kori cocking an eyebrow. “I’m also not so sure I like this implication that the absence of ‘memories’ is somehow the only way a person is defined.”

“Hey, I also said experiences!”

“Would that not tie into—”

“It’s four in the morning,” interrupted Jason, “can this conversation wait for another time? You know, one where I’m not around to actually hear it?”

Roy mock-gasped. “Are you kidding me? Pseudo-intellectual discussions in the wee hours of the morning are what I live for.”

A soft smirk tugged at the side of Kori’s mouth. “You know a word like pseudo-intellectual? I’m almost impressed.”

“Trust me, there’s plenty more where that came from, babe.” Roy shuffled on the bed again, this time until Jason was certain he was pressed right up against his back, and that the light pressure he felt on his shoulder was Roy’s bare hand. It had taken many days and nights before Jason had gotten anywhere near tolerant of Roy’s random and casual touches. Although his body still instinctively winced, always surprised at how hot the archer’s skin felt against his cold body, he couldn’t deny that it was a sort of … comfort? He wasn’t sure what to call it.

“Anyway,” Roy began again, “before I forget …”

Jason groaned. “ _Roy_ …”

“ _Shh_ , hear me out. I just wanted to say that, in spite of some of the things you say or do, because I know you totally don’t mean even half of it most of the time, I still like you. I don’t like how little respect you have for yourself, but hey, we can always work on that.”

Before he could stop himself, Jason replied with, “And I don’t like how your mouth is always flapping, but hey, we can work on that, too.”

“See,” chuckled Roy as he poked Jason in the shoulder, “right there! You just proved me right. I know exactly what you’re trying to do, and I’m not sorry to say that it’s not going to work on me.”

“Congratulations, Roy, you caught me. Would you like a trophy?”

“Is it for ‘Best Therapist Award’?”

“Nope,” Jason replied, feeling the beginning of a smirk form. “‘Best Not-Always-Wrong’ Award.”

Roy gave his shoulder a light smack. “Ha ha. Clever one, Mr. Todd. But you know what they say: ‘Even a broken clock is right twice a day.’ There’s only so many times I can fuck shit up before I eventually get something right.”

There was a long pause, nothing counting the dragging seconds except for the sound of everyone breathing, before Kori finally said in a slow, confused voice, “Did … did you really just compare yourself to a broken clock?”

“Maybe. But hey, here’s another classic one: birds of a feather flock together.”

Kori shook her head. “Okay, you may stop with the corny earthling phrases now; you have filled your quota.”

“And on that note,” Jason added before Roy could say anything else, “I vote that we finally go to sleep. I’m tired and have things to do in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan, Mr. Leader. Don’t let me keep you from your beauty sleep, ‘kay?”

The bed groaned as Roy stretched his entire body before relaxing into the mattress, his head resting gently against the back of Jason’s neck. Jason tensed for a second, then after a calming breath he allowed himself to relax, realizing that Roy wasn’t going anywhere for the rest of the night. And from the looks of it, neither was Kori.

She propped an arm under her pillow, her other hand coming up to rest between the two of them, where it lightly grazed against Jason’s chest, near his heart. Jason eyed the tanned hand, but when he looked back up at Kori’s face, her eyes were already closed, her breathing steady. Not asleep, but well on her way.

Jason could have left the bed if he wanted to. There was nothing holding him back, certainly not Roy pressed against his back or Kori’s presence in front of him. He could leave anytime he wanted, go and claim the other bed for himself. But he didn’t. And not for any sentimental, hopeful reason (any of which he would have quickly crushed before they had any chance of influencing him). He was simply too tired and sore to get up, and if he were being honest, the body heat from his two partn— _allies_ was simply much warmer than anything the hotel bed covers could offer. After the long, cold trip to and from the All Caste, he needed all the warmth he could get.

A sort of calm fell over Jason. One that he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever, and he allowed it to lull him into a dreamless, yet comfortable sleep.


End file.
